There was disagreement as to when the recession might have started.

"The recession started there, and that is where the recovery will come from as well."

The recession in luxury started last season, about six months ago.

"I don't know yet whether a recession has started," she said.

An additional growth of 15.7 percent is needed just to bring the value to where it was before the recession started in December 2007.

And business tax revenue stopped growing even before the recession started.

"Since the recession started last year, we were ready for this and knew how tough it would be," he said.

He said the key factor was the 1,300 jobs lost by the town since the recession started.

Three years ago, just before the recession started, it was 67 percent.

A recession had started in March 2001, economic data later made clear.